Aurélien-Marie Lugné[1] (27 December 1869 – 19 June 1940), known by his stage andpen nameLugné-Poe,[2] was a French actor,theatre director, and scenic designer. He founded the landmark Paris theatre company, theThéâtre de l'Œuvre,[3] which produced experimental work by FrenchSymbolist writers and painters at the end of the nineteenth century.[4] Like his contemporary, theatre pioneerAndré Antoine, he gave the French premieres of works by the leading Scandinavian playwrightsHenrik Ibsen,August Strindberg, andBjørnstjerne Bjørnson.[5]
In 1887, at age 17, Lugné-Poe and friend Georges Bourdon created an amateur theatre group called le Cercle des Escholiers, which sought to perform "unpublished or, at the very least, little-known works."[6] As he prepared to audition for theParis Conservatory, he changed his name from Lugné to "Lugné-Poe" in homage toEdgar Allan Poe.[7] While the Conservatory rejected his audition in fall 1887, they accepted him in fall 1888; days later he joinedAndré Antoine'sThéâtre Libre, a subscriber-basedNaturalist independenttheatre.[8] After appearing in the first play of that season under his own name, Lugné-Poe adopted thestage names "Philippon," "Delorme," and "Leroy" for the duration of his association with Antoine's company.[9]
Lugné-Poe continued acting lessons at the Conservatory under the greatComédie-Française starGustave Worms while appearing in Théâtre Libre's 1888-1889 season and the first half of the next. But tensions grew over the next year as Antoine bullied and blamed his actors, including Lugné-Poe, for weak performances. After their falling out while on tour in Belgium in early 1890, Lugné-Poe concentrated on his Conservatory competition showcases, winning a First-Place certificate for Comedy in early 1890.[10] His obligation to fulfill military service in the fall, however, suspended his theatrical rise.[11] Before his departure, he had already befriended a group of painters known asThe Nabis, and publicized their work in a series of articles.[12]
Returning from an abbreviated military service in early spring 1891, Lugné-Poe joinedPaul Fort'sThéâtre d'Art, first appearing inMaurice Maeterlinck'sL'Intruse. For the next two years, he moved regularly between acting for the Théâtre d'Art and directing for his former company Le Cercle des Escholiers.[13] Lugné-Poe performed in ten plays altogether for Fort, interpreting, most notably, the Maeterlinck rôles of the Old Man inL'Intruse (1891) and the First Blind Man inLes Aveugles (1891), as well as Satan in Jules Bois'Les Noces de Sathan (1892). He, along with Georgette Camée, forged the signature Symbolist acting style that conveys a reverie, with its hieratic movement and gestures, matched with solemn, psalmodized line readings. After the disappointing plays of the March 28, 1892 program, Fort called a halt to the Théâtre d'Art. Lugné-Poe put his talents to staging and acting in noteworthy plays with the Cercle des Escholiers, which culminated with Ibsen'sThe Lady from the Sea (1892).[14] It was only the fourth French-translated Ibsen play to open in Paris, after Antoine's landmark productions ofGhosts in 1890 andThe Wild Duck in 1891, andAlbert Carré's production ofHedda Gabler in December 1891. When Lugné-Poe reconstituted the Théâtre d'Art as theThéâtre de l'Œuvre in 1893, he would make Ibsen his specialty in Paris theatre, premiering (and often starring in) nine Ibsen plays between 1893 and 1897.
Like Paul Fort before him, Lugné-Poe never secured a permanent stage for the entire run of his company's initial art-theatre experiment. The Théâtre de l'Œuvre debuted with Maeterlinck'sPelléas et Mélisande for a single matinée performance at theThéâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens in May 1893, but the six engagements in his next season occurred at the distantThéâtre des Bouffes du Nord, where he premiered Ibsen'sRosmersholm,An Enemy of the People, andThe Master Builder, Gerhart Hauptmann'sLonely Lives, and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson'sBeyond Human Power, among others. For the May 1894 production ofHenri Bataille andRobert d'Humières'Sleeping Beauty, he securedNouveau-Théâtre's space for the first time. Though he concluded the season withAugust Strindberg'sCreditors at the newly built Comédie-Parisienne (later known asLouis Jouvet'sThéâtre de l'Athénée), he quickly assumed the directorship of Nouveau-Théâtre for most of the 1894-95 season. There he premiered Maeterlinck's adaptation ofJohn Ford's'Tis Pity She's a Whore (Annabella), Beaubourg'sThe Mute Voice, Strindberg'sThe Father,Śūdraka'sThe Little Clay Cart, and Maeterlinck'sInterior, among others. While his May 1895 productions (including Ibsen'sLittle Eyolf) were staged at the Théâtre des Menus-Plaisirs, he returned to Nouveau-Théâtre to conclude the season with Ibsen'sBrand.
The 1895-96 season found residence at two locations. Lugné-Poe staged the first half of the season back at the Comédie-Parisienne, with a line-up that includedThomas Otway'sVenice Preserved,Kālidāsa'sThe Ring of Shakuntalā, andOscar Wilde'sSalome.The second half, however, starting in March 1896, began over two-years' residency for the Théâtre de l'Œuvre at Nouveau-Théâtre. Most notably, they premiered Ibsen'sPillars of Society (22-23 June 1896) andPeer Gynt (11-12 November 1896);Alfred Jarry'sUbu Roi (9-10 December 1896); Bjørnson's sequel toBeyond Human Power (25-26 January 1897); Hauptmann's fairy dramaThe Sunken Bell (4-5 March 1897); Bataille'sYour Blood (7-8 May 1897); Ibsen'sLove's Comedy (22-23 June 1897) andJohn Gabriel Borkman (8-9 November 1897);Nikolai Gogol'sThe Inspector General (7-8 January 1898); andRomain Rolland'sAert (2-3 May 1898) andThe Wolves (18 May 1898). For their last season, the Théâtre de l'Œuvre gave two undistinguished premieres—Paul Sonniès'Fausta (15-16 May 1899) and Lucien Mayrargue'sThe Yoke (5-6 June 1899)—preferring to hold the much anticipated revival ofAn Enemy of the People at the grander Théâtre de la Renaissance in February. Lugné-Poe's last productions for the company were done at the very theatre where the Théâtre de l'Œuvre had begun in 1893 withPelléas et Mélisande: the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens. By the close of the nineteenth century, Lugné-Poe's company had successfully established half a dozen Parisian theatres as sites for daring, challenging, and at times outrageous modern drama.
